War and the Muses - British Sailors on Their Admirals

From the mid-seventeenth century the favorite drink of the Royal Navy was rum, its status formalized by the daily issue of a an eighth of a pint of a "cocktail" of one part rum to two-parts water known as "grog" that began in 1740 and continued until.1970.  Issued as a way of controlling excessive drinking among the sailors, grog was also found to be useful in curbing scurvy, the scourge of long range voyages, when fresh provisions ran out.  But while the daily grog ration certainly helped curb scurvy, it only made limited inroads against drunkenness, since the men often managed to lay their hands on illicit potables

So popular was rum that during the early twentieth century British sailors had a little ditty that satirized the alleged drinking habits of several of their most important commanders.

Admirals on Rum

When Beresford

Arrives on board

The first thing- he wants is RUM.

And Percy Scott

He likes it hot

And he drinks quite a lot of RUM.

And Fisher too

He tells his crew

That rum will make them lither:

When with the Fleet

He drinks it neat

And not a bad judge either!

The admirals in question were,

• Lord Charles William de la Poer Beresford (1846-1919), a political animal who commanded the Channel and Mediterranean Fleets, 1903-1909, but did little to prepare for war, aside from agitating in Parliament for promotions (he was an MP, permitted under British law) and feuding with his subordinates and superiors, even after he retired in 1911.
• Sir Percy Moreton Scott (1853-1924), a brilliant innovator who "taught the Navy to shoot straight," and during World War I developed the first air defense plans for Britain, after which he became a champion of air power..
• Lord John "Jackie" Fisher (1841-1920), a radical innovator who revolutionized the Royal Navy as commander of the Mediterranean Fleet and later as First Sea Lord, promoting Scott's innovative gunnery methods, reforming officer training, scrapping obsolete ships, the developing the dreadnought battleship and the battle cruiser, and championed the introduction of oil fuel for the fleet, all before taking the Royal Navy into World War I.  Shortly sacked as part of the fall-out from the Gallipoli disaster, he nevertheless went on to chair a commission promoting technological research and development.  

As to whether any of the three was overly fond of rum, well Scott reportedly was a toper (and a notorious womanizer as well), but despite their irascible temperaments, neither Beresford nor Fisher seem to have been more than social drinkers.